Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Using infrared thermal imaging to detect syringomyelia in Cavalier
By Larkin, M et al.·Published in BMC veterinary research·2020·Department of Surgery, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Medical infrared thermal imaging of syringomyelia in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with Chiari-like Malformation (a skull shape issue) was evaluated for syringomyelia, a condition where fluid-filled cavities form in the spinal cord. Researchers used a special infrared camera to create heat maps of the dog's body, which helped identify signs of this condition. The imaging method showed a decent accuracy rate of about 70% in detecting syringomyelia. This non-invasive test could be a helpful tool for veterinarians to screen for this serious issue in affected dogs.
People also search for: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel syringomyelia symptoms · infrared imaging for dog health · Chiari-like Malformation in dogs
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Medical infrared thermal imaging (MITI) is a non-invasive imaging modality gaining popularity in the veterinary field. An infrared camera captures emission of heat and creates a color map in the form of a thermogram. Topical heat emission is influenced by localized disease processes as a result of autonomic nervous system imbalance. The purpose of this study was to determine the utility of using thermography to identify changes in thermographic patterns associated with syringomyelia (SM) presence or absence in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCS) with Chiari-like Malformation (CLM). RESULTS: In CKCS with CLM, MITI was most accurate at a texture distance of 6. Optimizing imaging feature sets produced a highest accuracy of 69.9% (95% CI: 59.5-79.0%), with 81.3% sensitivity and 57.8% specificity for identifying the presence of syringomyelia. CONCLUSION: Thermographic image analysis is a successful non-invasive, diagnostic test that can be used to screen for syringomyelia presence in a CKCS with CLM.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32410627/